Velvet
by ScarletandSage
Summary: missing scene "Second Chances" 6.24 A distortion field surrounding a planet trapped a transporter echo of Lieutenant William T. Riker, marooning him for eight years. Now the Enterprise has returned and rescued him, creating an awkward situation for Deanna Troi and Commander Will Riker. Deanna watches "Tom" Riker leave her for career advancement the same as Will had. Fallout.


Velvet

Missing scene episode 6.24 "Second Chances." This is at the end of the episode, after Lieutenant Tom Riker (Will's transporter doppelganger) heads out to his new assignment.

What a strange circumstance to find oneself in, rekindling a romance with your best friend that then ends the same way it had before. Only this time, it is a mature choice, and the love remains to make the hurt less.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Star Trek. This is written for love of the characters and universe.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Will held out his hand and started for the door. Deanna smiled sadly and took his hand, walking with him into the corridor. His familiar spirit reached for her, wrapping her in warmth as they made their way to the turbolift.

"Deck ten," Will ordered the lift.

Deanna squeezed his hand. They said nothing as the lift moved, but Will pulled her into a hug, and she let him. She opened her senses to the balm of him, her more mundane hearing focused on his heartbeat where she rested her ear on his chest. She smiled at the hint of triumph behind his caring. He would never admit it aloud, but he had been jealous of himself.

They broke the embrace as the lift opened on deck ten. With a gentle hand on her lower back, Will guided her to Ten Forward. He nodded to the barkeep as he steered her to a table by the windows.

Deanna settled into the comfortable chair and drank in the sensations of crewmates sharing leisure time with each other. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out on the reminder of why she'd chosen to remain. The other Will...Tom...she couldn't have explained it to him, though she tried. Her life was here, with these people, with her work, her friends. Her Will.

She opened her eyes again to find him watching her, a bemused expression on his face as the waiter set a heaping bowl of chocolate fudge sundae in front of her.

She narrowed her eyes at Will. "You ordered ahead, didn't you?"

He merely smiled, canary firmly swallowed. He caught the waiter's attention. "I'll have a whiskey, neat, please."

Chocolate soothed many ills. A fact her friends didn't need to be empathic to understand about her.

"It's Beverly's fault, you know," Deanna said around the first mouthful of sinful richness.

"I tried to warn you. I know me."

She tilted her head and swallowed. "I'm not certain you do."

An irritated micro expression flitted past his placid "helpful friend" face. Deanna felt his emotion like a wave and stood still against it as one would the knee-deep incoming tide at the shore. She knew this man's moods, enjoyed them, and on occasion played with them. Part of her felt vindictive at the moment, though Will had done nothing wrong. She wanted him to understand it.

The waiter brought Will's whiskey. He toyed with the glass, working to neutralize his expression. Deanna took another bite of the fudge sauce then deliberately licked a drip off her lip. Will watched her tongue; a flare of desire - quickly dampened - accompanied his gaze. Wow, she thought, he truly had been jealous.

"Do you remember," she asked, "the last time we were in San Francisco, and we stopped at that bar by the academy?"

He frowned. "Yeah."

"Remember how young the cadets looked? How they acted? You said you couldn't remember being that much of a kid."

"Did I?"

She smiled. "You did. And you were right." She drew her spoon around the bowl inside the rim, drawing the fudge sauce around the ice cream. The spoon hooked on the edge of a buried brownie. Damn the man; he'd gone for the ultimate Sundae. "We are not the same people we were when we met. Nor are we the same people we were eight years ago when we parted." She drilled him with her professional stare. "Will, I chose to stay here. I chose my career over him, just as you chose your career over me back then. I cried those tears years ago. Don't worry so much. I'll be fine."

His lovely blue eyes turned down at the corners. His regret reached her faster than the hand he extended toward her arm. "I shouldn't have made you cry them at all."

She shook her head. "You wouldn't be where you are today. You wouldn't be who you are now. Nor would I."

"You know I love you, Dee."

"Well duh." She smirked. "Empath."

He sniffed ruefully and withdrew his hand.

"What I'm trying to tell you is yes, the chance to have that again, that passion we had then, the excitement of it, the romance...it felt wonderful. But the infatuation wouldn't last. And it doesn't compare with what we have now." She leaned toward him. "Your love for me is deeper, richer, more permanent. The place you've made for me in your heart is like a warm nest lined with velvet, just for me. As long as I respect your boundaries, it will always be there. I wouldn't trade that certainty and comfort for anything."

His emotions buzzed in a flattered whirl but settled into uncertainty. "Wouldn't he be that way over time with you...and your kids?"

"No." A bite of brownie gave her something to chew on to control the twinge of hurt she did not want to pass to Will. "He had been alone a long time. His ambition has twisted something inside him without an outlet. Honestly, he scared me somewhat. Professionally."

"Personally?"

"Personally, I'm not certain he would be capable of maintaining a committed relationship no matter the enthusiasm it would begin with."

"Even with you?"

She sighed. "I let go of any desire to be a mother a long time ago."

"Lwaxana must be so happy to know that."

Deanna laughed. "Can you image her as a grandmother?"

"Perish the thought." Will's eyes twinkled again.

With Will finally in the right frame of mind, Deanna reached for his hand. "Thank you. For being you. For loving me. And for the chocolate."

"Sure."

She took another bite of ice cream and allowed the fudge to wrap her tongue in dark cocoa pleasure. "Don't think giving him your trombone will get you out of playing 'Night Bird' in public."

"Woman!"


End file.
